By Jim Redden
As the Nov. 3 general election approaches, the most debated issue in the City Council District 4 race has not been the future of the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, even though it is in the district that includes industrial Northwest Portland and Linnton.
Instead, by late September, voters were asking whether Councilor Mitch Green should resign from the council after harsh anti-police social posts from 2020 and 2021 were unearthed by political commentor Max Steele and repeated for days by Portland news media.
In some of his postings, Green professed his “pure hatred for the Portland police” and repeatedly called for eliminating policing entirely, saying at one point “cops are simply incompatible with peaceful society.” At other times, he referred to police officers as “absolute monsters,” “bastards” and “infamously cowardly.”
The posts prompted the Portland Police Association and Portland Firefighters Association to call for Green’s resignation. Portland Police Chief Bob Day said he could no longer trust Green. Mayor Keith Wilson said he was “deeply disturbed” by the posts.
Green refused to resign, saying he made the comments during social justice protests following the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by the Minneapolis police. Green said he was responding to Portland police mistreatment of Blacks and the protesters who took to the streets, including himself.
“I was part of a community that’s been troubled by the Portland Police Bureau’s response to our movement,” Green said. “During that period, police officers gassed the entire city and documented more than 6,000 uses of force against protesters, the wall of moms, faith leaders, and Portlanders of all stripes, so much so that the courts had to step in.”
Whether Green is reelected could determine the balance of power on the Council, which is currently divided between six self-declared progressives like Green and six moderates. The other two incumbents running for reelection are moderates, including Council Vice President Olivia Clark and Fred Zimmerman.
Ten candidates are running for the three District 4 seats. Based on campaign funds raised and endorsements as of late September, five appear to have the best chances of winning – the three incumbents, Portland Police Officer Eli Arnold, who is endorsed by the Go Portland Go! business and community organization, and tenant advocate Jamey Evenstar, who is endorsed by two of the progressives on the Council and a number of unions.
Also running are disability advocate Timothy (TJ) Anderson, commercial landlord Jayne Cronlund, Portland Film Festival Executive Director, journalist John McDonald, musician Matt Schulte and Portland State University Project Manager Jeremy Beausoleil Smith. None of these six candidates have yet demonstrated much support.
More issues will likely surface in the race during campaign events after this issue of the North Peninsula Review goes to press. Those events include: the candidate forum sponsored by central and Northwest neighborhoods at The Armory in the Pearl District on Oct. 5; the candidate forum sponsored by the Portland City Club at the University Place Hotel & Conference Center on Oct. 6 (which will also be available on the organization’s YouTube channel); the Linnton Neighborhood Association candidate forum at 10614 NW St. Helens Rd. on Oct. 7; and the candidate forum sponsored by Southeast and Southwest neighborhoods at the Sellwood Community House.
The election will be decided by ranked-choice voting, in which voters rank their choices for candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes on the first round, lower ranked candidates are eliminated, and votes are redistributed until the top three vote-getters are determined.